For many decades, children and adults have found amusement in causing water to be thrown on others. One common system for providing such entertainment has been through the use of fluid filled balloons or bags. In these systems, the balloon or bag functions as a container that is filled, carried, thrown, and, eventually, dispenses, releasing and dispersing the fluid over some area.
Filling such balloon/bags can be tedious if individual units are filled. This is especially the case with water balloons which need to be attached to a spigot for filling. Utilizing auxiliary filling devices may increase filling speeds but may also significantly increase costs and waste materials. Sealing a water filled container can be tedious, resulting in many cases water falling onto the person filling the container. Self-sealing containers often leak and are many times more expensive.
Additionally, high pressure water sources are required to fill water balloons, which limits available filling locations. Once filled, a large set of water balloons can be heavy and cumbersome to transport, typically requiring buckets to transport the filled balloons from the water spigot to the desired “launching” locations. Loading many water balloons into one carrier invariably leads to more balloon leakage and loss due to pressures from neighboring balloons. Also, since the water balloons are typically concentrated in only a few containers, this leads to players being in relatively close proximity to the containers and each other. As such, a potential for injury exists due to hard throws at close range.
Another significant issue with water balloon play is that it requires a significant investment of time and/or money to supply the filled balloons and deliver them. Then the duration of the actual throwing play only lasts until the majority of the balloons are broken. For players near a supply of filled water balloons, typical throw rates can exceed 26 balloons per minute. Thus, many balloons are required to extend play even for a fraction of an hour. Some players inevitably join late, or are away from a filled water balloon source at the start of play. Unfortunately, the fun play duration is typically very short, and approaching a filled water balloon source can put oneself into danger.
Most of the fun is generated from the breaking of balloons on other players, so even very under filled balloons are utilized to continue the play. These under filled balloons target a very small surface area and, due to their small size, can be thrown at high speeds, leading to an increase potential for injury. Also, the smaller size limits the ability of players seeing the balloons coming, leading to delayed reaction and potential face/eye hits. In addition, if stronger balloon materials are used to minimize breaks during inflation, those balloons will not break unless thrown hard; which can lead to additional harm.
Finally, when water balloon play ends, many broken balloon pieces are widely dispersed over an area. Even if the balloons are made of a biodegradable material, these pieces still represent an eyesore or stain to the view, with the possibility of an ingestion and digestion issue for any animals or pets that might cross the play region. Clean up can be quite tedious and time consuming.
Other alternative devices that replace water balloons include sponge-like devices that soak up water, and small crushable but refillable ball-like containers. Often, when these devices are thrown, the water is also released on the thrower due to the combination of rapid acceleration and the squeezing action of a throwing hand. Another deficiency is that only the small spot on a player is directly wetted upon contact by the ball-like device. The small delivery area also means that many throws miss their target and will need to be retrieved. Also, the highly concentrated impact may lead to injury if it is heavily loaded with water. Of course, if the device is not heavily loaded with water, then little water is delivered, diminishing its usefulness. Further, close range hits to the face or an eye can be dangerous.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved amusement apparatus and system for delivering water toward a person.